Never Stop Learning: How an Old Man's Curiosity Changed the Course of History

In a time before time, an old man lived in a very small village. They only stayed in the village in the summer and then did a long trek to another part of their world when it became colder.

The trek was arduous and dangerous. Mostly due to attacks from wild animals. The old man had seen it all.

Horrific injuries inflicted on his family members and friends by ferocious beasts that roamed the earth. At this point in time, man was not the apex predator.

They were in the process of evolving from a totally nomadic lifestyle to one where they formed small villages and communities.

They built shelters and stayed there for a season before moving when the weather changed. They would move as far south as they could and then build new shelters for the winter.

They did a better job of keeping them warm than trying to find a cave somewhere. The landscape was constantly changing and often caves that where there one year, would be gone the next under a landslide or earthquake.

Their little villages where much easier to protect themselves from dangerous animals as well. They could create thorny barriers up around their shelters to keep out the hungry beasts.

Unlike today where lion, tigers and other dangerous animals have learnt to fear man. In those days, men didn't have sophisticated weapons and so their only defense was a spear or a knife with a sharpened bone on the end.

It was a dangerous time to be alive. Their long trek between their two villages took them a few weeks each time.

Once, a few seasons before, they had been set upon by a whole pack of large wolves. The old man had lost his son in this attack and many others had been wounded.

It had been a desperate battle and while the wolves where cunning and relentless in their repeated attacks, the little tribe had eventually managed to fight them off after killing a few of the wolves.

The problem was in those days, is that any wound could get severally infected and lead to death if not treated. The old man new of many plants that would help to clean out a wound.

He had learnt to wash any wounds in a stream. And also pick out any bits of teeth. He had nursed many of his tribe back to health but it was never straight forward. And often, despite his best efforts, death was still inevitable.

Then one day, as the old man was sitting by a stream, watching the water whizzing by. He noticed the effect it had on rocks in the water bed. Countless years of a constant stream of water running over them.

They became very smooth  and flat. He wondered that if a small stream could do that to rocks, what could a fast flowing river do to them. And so, he headed off, further up the stream and towards the mountain from where it came from.

Sure enough he noticed the rocks where even smoother. Even big boulders in the river where very smooth where the rushing water had eroded them over eternity.

He began to pick out some of the stones and noticed how they would fit together due to their shape and size. He scrambled around in the water and collected more and more of the stones.

He then stacked them and formed a small wall. He started to realise that this could be used to create a shelter or even protection around their small village.

While there were still gaps in between the stones, it was a lot stronger than sticks and mud that they currently used. The old man also realised that this would last significantly longer than their current shelters.

Delighted with his findings, he rushed back and explained this to the others. They were apprehensive as usual. They hated change and they feared the wall would collapse and trap them inside.

But the old man convinced them it was worth trying. And so, it marked an important turning point in history where man began to build their houses out of stone which they could come back to each season and find where still fully intact.

They were warmer as they soaked up the rays of the sun and kept the heat inside them. They did not fall down in strong winds.

They learnt to build stronger and better shelters with the stones. It naturally look much longer to build but the effort meant they lasted for a lifetime rather than a single season.

The old man realised the benefit of the lesson.

1. To try something new.

2. To spend the time building something stronger and more resilient was well worth the effort.

3. To notice fear to change but to do it anyway.

The old man used these lessons in many other aspects of his teaching to his fellow tribe members and beyond.

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